The story is told of a family who wished to bless their daughter as she was leaving for college. An elaborate dinner was prepared. Nothing was spared on the decorations. The guest list included all her many friends from high school and church. Everything was finally in place and everyone had arrived. As dinner came to a close, with a twinkle in his eye the proud dad clinked his fork on the side of his glass. All eyes were on him as he made a brief speech about the family's pride in the young lady's accomplishments. With a grand flourish he produced a mysteriously bulging envelope. Squealing with delight, the college-bound beauty ripped open the envelope, quickly scanned the words of love scrawled in her dad's messy handwriting and held up the key to the car of her dreams. Leading the charge out into the drive the girl exclaimed with confusion etched on her face, "but where IS it??" Joy turned to concern as everyone came to the sad realization it was nowhere to be found! Somehow, a thief had slipped in during the distractions of dinner and the beautiful new car had been stolen. 

Although the dear girl was owner of a wonderful new key on a leather fob with the brand name stenciled on it in gold, it was worthless without all the lesser, smaller, more mundane parts of the new car.  The list of the missing parts sadly and badly overshadowed the value of the key. Without all the parts moving in concert, the key was valueless. 

And so it is in the Church. It really doesn't matter who fills the pulpit or staffs the office. If each person who is part of the church fails to show up, the rest of the church just cannot function properly. 

Suppose someone found the girl's missing car at a dismantling shop. Suppose they were able to recover everything but "a few parts". Which ones would she be able to do without as she made the long drive to the university? The windshield? The transmission? The tires? You get the picture.  

As another Sunday rolls around we should ask ourselves if the church can reasonably be expected to function in our absence. Is the role we play so inconsequential that God really doesn't need us there after all? Or is the fact that we have allowed something to spirit us away from church rather like the girl with the shiny new key...to nothing. God needs each of us to fill our spot. 

See you on Sunday!

Lovingly,

Pastor Rich Orrell

Psalm 121   NLT

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem

¹ "I look up to the mountains, does my help come from thee? 

² My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!

^3. He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.

⁴ Indeed, He who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

⁵ The Lord Himself watches over you!   The Lord stands beside you as your shade.

⁶ The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

⁸ The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever!"

In today's busy world, with all the difficulties we face from day-to-day, we are tempted to run to 'professional'  sources  for help.

Doctors, lawyers, counselors, for every ache, problem and ailment we have are readily available.  While they may be good, God and HIS provision is our real source of help in time of trouble.

When you're in trouble—don't relegate God to the last solution of desperation.   Let's call on Him first!   He is where our true help comes from.

I take the littlest of problems to Him, and He comes through, saving me time, frustration and money. 

Often I take a problem to Him  before I retire for the evening and when I awake the next morning, the knowledge of how to handle the issue is clear in my mind, firmly planted there by His Holy Spirit. 

We serve an awesome God.   Let's take our burdens to the Lord and trust Him to keep us from all harm, He is our source.

God cares for you, and He does all things well!

Love ya, 

Pastor Phil      

With the growth of electronics over the years the air must certainly be filled with signals. Many kinds of satellite signals crisscross our little world; military, television, radio, GPS, weather, just to name a few. So how is it that we are not overwhelmed by the cacophony of electronic signals?

The answer is stunningly simple. We aren't tuned in to them. They pass through the room without us having the slightest awareness of their passing. It is only when we possess the right equipment tuned to the correct frequency that we can access the data contained in the flood of signals. 

So it is with the realm of the Spirit. God is continually speaking.  Alas, many never hear what He has to say. They never hear His comforting voice telling them how much He loves them. Nor have they ever heard him remind them that He will never leave them nor forsake them. 

The problem isn't that God has ceased speaking. The problem is that we are not attuned to His voice. 

How can we hear His still small voice when the media around us is thundering Madison avenue's siren song? With Hollywood clamoring for our attention and Facebook occupying so much of our time, how will we hear God saying, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden"? 

Sometimes the best thing we can do is turn everything else off and open up the Bible. God can still be heard in the silence of the study as His Word leaps from the page to connect with the hunger of a heart finely tuned to hear His voice. "Be still and know that I am God" is still a valid form of worship. 

See you at the altar!

Pastor Rich Orrell 

God cares for you!

I Peter 5:7 NLT

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you!"

Friend, today is the day for all of us to give our burdens to the Lord and quit trying to solve the problems ourselves, He has this covered.

Much like the stories of the one who had a paid ticket on an ocean cruise & ate food brought from home, until it ran out, and nearly starved, when all the time his paid-in-full-ticket covered all the food he could possibly have ever wanted. Sumptuous fare was his, but he struggled trying to do his own thing, how foolish!

You know, it pays to know the benefits we have being one of The King's Kids.  We are blessed!

I love the chorus "Every Need Supplied."  Not just some times, but ALL of the time, He supplies our EVERY need.   We can take it to the bank—He will take care of us. Absolutely!

Whether it is a job, healing, a  broken relationship, God is your source and His resources are limitless. You can't even imagine what He has in store for you.

So, drop the burdens at His feet, just worship Him this weekend.   Come into His  presence, throw your head back and sing, raise your hands to Him!  

Don't worry about what others think, just lose yourself in worship of Him, for HE is worthy, and HE cares for you.  He's got your every need supplied!

Your tomorrows are ordered by Him, before time ever began!  You've tried to solve it, now give HIM a chance, test Him and see what He will do with your life!

Hallelujah, He is our peace!

Love ya,  Pastor Phil